Another year has passed - and wow, what a ride this year has been. It was the year, in which the sentiment around crypto assets changed after years of rather negative sentiment to bullishness. It was the year, in which Bitcoin - for the first time in its history -...
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Crypto and digital currencies in 2024 – and what to expect next
Another year has passed - and wow, what a ride this year has been. It was the year, in which the sentiment around crypto assets changed after years of rather negative sentiment to bullishness. It was the year, in which Bitcoin - for the first time in its history - reached a price of 100,000 USD after “crypto president” Trump won the US election. But let’s start from the beginning. What...
ECB Economists Critique Bitcoin: Is It Truly Worthless and a Threat to Democracy?
Bitcoin is currently hitting consecutive all-time highs. Despite this positive market momentum, it's crucial to take criticisms seriously. Recently, the ECB Economists Ulrich Bindseil and Jürgen Schaaf published a paper on the distributional effects of Bitcoin that...
Bitcoin ETFs: Its first 140 days in numbers
In January, the cryptocurrency community was energized by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) endorsement of Bitcoin spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the U.S. Now, 140 days on, it's time to look back at the significant expansion and implications of...
Ethereum ETFs genehmigt! Alles, was man dazu wissen muss
Gestern hat die amerikanische Börsenaufsichtsbehörde SEC die Anträge für Spot Ethereum, oder präziser Ether, Exchange-traded Funds (ETFs) angenommen. Diese Genehmigung folgt auf diejenige von Bitcoin-Spot-ETFs im Januar und markiert eine weitere bedeutende und...
Ethereum ETFs approved! Here is all you need to know
Yesterday, the American Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the applications for spot Ethereum, or - to be precise - Ether, exchange-traded funds (ETFs). This follows the approval of Bitcoin spot ETFs in January, marking another significant and somewhat...
What the European Elections mean for the digital euro
The European elections are coming! In early June, European citizens will head to the polls to elect the new European Parliament. The 2024 election holds significant implications for the future of digital currencies in Europe, including crypto assets, stablecoins, and...
Is the Future of Gold Tokenized?
In recent times, gold-backed stablecoins have garnered significant attention. Amongst those tokens, Tether Gold and Paxos Gold stand out, with market capitalizations between $400 and $600 million, positioning them within the top ten global stablecoins. Figure 1:...
Bitcoin halving explained: What does the halving mean for the Bitcoin price?
The concept of the halving is one of the most important concepts around Bitcoin. Ultimately, it's about controlling the scarcity of Bitcoin by reducing the mining rewards over time. This article sheds light on what Bitcoin halving is, why it's so important for...
Bitcoin Halving erklärt: Was bedeutet das Halving für den Bitcoin-Preis?
Das Konzept des Bitcoin Halving ist eines der wichtigsten Konzepte rund um Bitcoin. Letztendlich geht es dabei darum, die Knappheit von Bitcoin zu steuern, indem die Belohnungen für das Mining über die Jahre reduziert werden. Dieser Artikel beleuchtet, was es mit dem...
50 Days of Bitcoin ETFs: The success story in numbers
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) greenlit Bitcoin Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) in early January. With 50 days elapsed, we're diving into the numbers to understand their performance. Has the Bitcoin ETFs so far been a success? Overview In a nutshell:...
Digital euro in the Finance Committee of the German Parliament: Insights from its public hearing
The digital euro has reached political domain. After a public hearing in the plenary of the German Bundestag (Parliament) end of last week, now also the finance experts of the Bundestag deal with the topic of the digital euro. The Finance Committee of the German...
Bitcoin ETF: How successful was the ETF launch?
The Bitcoin exchange traded funds (ETFs) have been launched approx. 1 month ago. The launch was a great success: In the first 17 trading days of the ETFs, a commulative trading volume of almost $32bn has ben achived. Almost $29bn have been invested in the Bitcoin ETFs...
How the Bitcoin ETF approvals relate to unconventional thinking and a mindset of openness
🤔 What happened? The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) yesterday greenlit the listing and trading of 11 spot #Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) from notable issuers like Bitwise, Grayscale, Hashdex, BlackRock, Valkyrie, BZX, Invesco, VanEck, WisdomTree,...
A big future for small payments? The case of micropayments
Within the ever-evolving landscape of digital payments, micropayments have emerged as a potent, yet relatively underutilized, instrument. Recently, I stumbled upon one of the most forward-thinking papers that shed light on the history, challenges, and opportunities,...
Reflections on payment innovation from my trip to Singapore and Indonesia
Recently, I returned from a two-week Asia journey, where I had the honor of participating in a workshop on payments and CBDC with the Central Bank of Indonesia and immersing myself in the dynamic atmosphere of the Singapore Fintech Festival. It was fascinating to...
The Subtle Art of Slow: The CBDC Adoption Journey (Coindesk Article)
It can be observed that the global adoption of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) has been proceeding at a sluggish pace. The usage of CBDCs in countries that have introduced them has often fallen below the expectations of many. In a recent CoinDesk article,...